Jexxican, your sweet comments about my yarn made my week!! I'm so new to spinning and usually scared to post my yarns because I worry they're not very well spun. Thank you -- I feel more confident about posting now!!

I got some fiber and a drop spindle from the July Birthday swap earlier this week. So far I've spun 4 oz of undyed merino and a beautiful piece of roving...not sure how much. I want to dye the 2 hanks I made of the undyed, and the other roving (which was really pretty colors) is resting for now. Can I post that?? Pretty please?

The thick and thin was the first go at anything. Not terrible, but I learned a lot.

The singles was the second try:

Also, this:

became this:

there were some really cool color changes in it:

Its still wound around the back of a chair until I can set the twist. The other two haven't been set yet either, but I want to dye them before I set any twist. Hopefully I'll be able to post that soon too!

Everyone's yarns look awesome. I agree that the white merino looks just like big, fluffy clouds. I love colors but pure white merino just can't be beat, it matches everything. You did an amazing job on it amazing_784, it looks MUCH better than my first few attempts at spinning.

I only just started spinning - my neighbour gave me a drop spindle (bottom whorl) and I grabbed some roving off her (she's an ex felter and I only took a couple of bags cause I wasn't sure if I'd take to spinning. Now, of course, I want MORE roving so I'll have to ask her if I can have some more.)Anyway, it's a little worrying that everyone says top whorl is better, and I'm not sure I'm doing it specifically CORRECTLY (I don't knit "correctly" either - ie my hand positions etc aren't what you're supposed to do, but my knitting ends up the same so why worry?) but hopefully what I'm doing is Ok. there are lots of tutorials out there and a lot of the information conflicts with each other. Anyway, I draft the fibre before I spin it, and I spin the spindle with my left hand and feed the fibre on with my right, which is apparently the reverse of how you're supposed to do it but anyway.

Here's my show and tell that bluey-grey is wool roving that I spun up. My first go, so it's rather curly - I'd already set it. The stuff on the spindle is spun more evenly - it's alpaca top, randomly dyed. I have a lot of that.My second skein of yarn - single, the aforementioned alpaca top. This is before I'd set the twist.Two things I'd like to do - I want to see if I can spin a really really fine lace weight, but I've heard that bottom whorl isn't good for that. In some bits I did get it quite thin, but I'm not sure if I could do that consistently.Also I'd like to ply yarn, but it seems bothersome to only get half as much yarn as I'd spun in the end. Also cause my singles are at least worsted weight, I'm worried it'll be way too thick if I ply it. Hrm.Sorry for all the writing :p

Ludicrouslouisa - Did no one warn you spinning is an addiction? lol =) I don't believe in 'supposed to' or 'the correct way' when it comes to most things art and that most definitely includes spinning (knitting too)! If you're drafting and putting twist in the fibers, you're spinning! I pre-draft my fiber a good bit before I start spinning too. There's something very Zen about just drafting out the roving (without spinning at the same time)...I love it. Everyone has their own opinions about top vs. bottom whorl...which one is better, which one is better for which type of yarn. It's the same with spinning wheels, the wheel that one spinner absolutely loves may not do it for another. Don't worry about 'supposed to' just worry about what feels right and works for you. It's more about creating the yarn that you want to create. Also, you mentioned plying...if you ply the yarn with itself you will definitely get half the length of yarn but you can ply two yarns or ply your yarn with thread of some sort without losing all that yardage. Your yarns look great!

Ludicrouslouisa-- as someone recently told me, just ply it, you'll love it. Really it totally has a different feel once it's plied.

As for drafting, I take the stance on not drafting unless needed, like if its' really felted, I draft as I spin. I think it's all a personal stance. Check out Abby Franquemonts videos on youtube on spinning, she's the ultimate spinning guru. Wait here's her first vid, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPUORvO-GZE , I still refer to it at times.